New CEO for Pontefract
Pontefract Racecourse have announced that Jonathan Mullin has been appointed as their Chief Executive Officer to take over from Richard Hammill, who is leaving on 7th March to take up a position as Chief Executive Officer at a Tourist Attraction and Events Venue.
Jonathan is currently Operations and Marketing Manager and Raceday Clerk of the Course at Ripon Racecourse. He will be taking up his new role at Pontefract on the 17th March but will continue to help out at Ripon in the short term as well as being available for raceday Clerking duties as often as possible in the coming season.
A racing fan from a young age, Jonathan completed the British Horseracing Authority Graduate Development Programme in 2008 and after spending 4 years on the horseracing desk at PA Sport he joined Sky Bet as a Racing and Greyhound Trader, followed by 4 ½ years working across several bookmakers as Horseracing and Greyhounds Trading and Risk Manager. He graduated from the inaugural Thoroughbred Horseracing Industry MBA course in 2017 and joined Ripon in 2018 where he has since become accredited as a Clerk of the Course as well as handling raceday operations, social media, community engagement and the sustainability programme and being involved in many aspects of racecourse administration.
Pontefract Director Norman Gundill said "I myself, my fellow Directors, and all the staff at Pontefract are delighted that Jonathan is to join us. He has had an excellent grounding in racecourse management at Ripon and we have no doubt he will continue the excellent leadership Richard has given us by providing strong commercial management and will develop and deliver strategies and innovation to continue to strengthen Pontefract's position in the industry".
Jonathan Mullin said "I'm delighted to be joining Pontefract and I'm looking forward to building on the fantastic work that Richard and the team have done over the years. I've been privileged to spend a wonderful seven years at Ripon and I owe a debt of gratitude to James Hutchinson and everybody at Yorkshire's Garden Racecourse for all I have learned during that time.
It's a very exciting time to be joining Pontefract and I'm looking forward to the challenge of driving the racecourse forward, with the start of the season on Tuesday 8th April now just around the corner".